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Former Taliban commander charged with killing US troops in 2008

Friday, 08 October 2021 7:11 AM [ Last Update: Friday, 08 October 2021 7:12 AM ]

The US Department of Justice building in southern district of New York in Manhattan, New York City, US. (File Photo)

The prosecutors in the US have charged an Afghan national, an alleged former Taliban commander, in terrorism-related offenses related to the killing of US troops in Afghanistan between 2007 and 2009.

A federal grand jury in New York on Thursday unsealed a superseding indictment against Haji Najibullah, charging him on 13 counts.

Najibullah, 45, was already in US custody after being charged with crimes related to the 2008 kidnapping of an American journalist and two Afghan nationals.

In addition to those charges, the superseding indictment on Thursday charges Najibullah with attacks on US troops carried out by the Taliban under his command in June 2008 and October 2008, the US department of justice (DOJ) said in a statement.

New indictments for an alleged #Taliban commander previously charged w/2008 kidnapping of a US journalist

Per @TheJusticeDept, 45yo Haji Najibullah now charged for downing a US helicopter, killing 3 soldiers & their interpreter pic.twitter.com/3vnUt9Uanc
— Jeff Seldin (@jseldin) October 7, 2021

According to court documents, Najibullah was the Taliban commander in Jaghato district of Afghanistan’s Wardak Province, which borders Kabul, until 2007.

He was arrested and extradited from Ukraine to the US in October 2020.

Ten of the 13 counts Najibullah faces carry maximum sentences of life in prison. Najibullah pleaded not guilty last November in Manhattan federal court after the previous indictment.

“As alleged, during one of the most dangerous periods of the conflict in Afghanistan, Haji Najibullah led a vicious band of Taliban insurgents who terrorized part of Afghanistan and attacked U.S. troops,” US attorney for the southern district of New York Audrey Strauss said in a statement.

General Mark J. Lesko, acting assistant attorney for the DOJ’s national security division, accused Najibullah of “numerous terrorism offenses relating to attacks against the US military in Afghanistan”, while declaring that he will now be “held accountable in an American courtroom.”

Importantly, it comes weeks after the US forces were forced to beat a hasty and humiliating withdrawal from Afghanistan after 20 years of military occupation.

Taliban, supporters celebrate defeating 'superpower' US

The Taliban and their supporters celebrate defeating the United States and the group

Taliban’s stunning takeover of the country after months of rapid advances across the war-ravaged country took American civilian and military officials by complete surprise.

There has been no official statement from the Taliban’s caretaker government in Kabul on the indictment of Najibullah.

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